


The L Route

by beeskneeshuh



Category: Firebringer - Team StarKid
Genre: Bus AU, F/F, are bus aus a thing, they're a thing now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 17:24:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16644557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeskneeshuh/pseuds/beeskneeshuh
Summary: On the bus ride to work one day, someone new sits next to Zazzalil, and she falls head over heels.





	The L Route

**Author's Note:**

> I started taking the bus to get to class and was inspired

_8:30_

“Shit!” Zazzalil yelled as she scrambled out of bed. She had slept through her alarm and now had about 10 minutes to get ready, so she could catch the bus and be on time for work. She got ready in record time and was out the door by 8:40.

“Hold on!” Zazzalil yelled as she ran to the bus stop. The bus had just started to pull away but Zazzalil could not miss this bus. She was running late already and if she missed this bus and had to wait fifteen minutes for the next bus then she would _definitely_ be late for work. _Again._ And her boss had chewed her out a couple weeks ago for being late too often, so she had been trying her best to be on time since then. 

The bus came to a stop to let Zazzalil get on. She quickly got on and swiped her card. She sat down in her usual seat next to the window and put her bag on the seat next to her. 

Zazzalil was used to taking the bus. She might even consider herself a bus _aficionado._ She had taken the bus all the way through college and had been taking this particular bus since she got her current job six months ago. She sat in the same seat every day. She smiled at the people she saw every day and they always smiled back. She knew which people to ignore and would often put in her headphones if someone was being particularly troublesome.

A few stops after Zazzalil got on, someone new came on the bus. Most of the people who took this bus were on it regularly, so Zazzalil always noticed when someone new got on the bus. This person was a girl. _A really pretty girl_ , Zazzalil thought. She looked sort of nervous, like maybe she had never taken the bus before. She fumbled with her change, almost dropping it, before putting it in the machine and grabbing her ticket. She turned to find somewhere to sit, except there weren’t any open seats. As the bus lurched forward, the girl had to grab a pole to keep from falling over.

Zazzalil realized that there actually _was_ an open seat. The one that her bag was currently sitting on. Without giving it a second thought, she pulled her bag onto her lap. She made eye contact with the girl, who had looked over in her direction when she moved her bag, and patted the seat her bag had previously occupied. The girl gave her a grateful smile and sat down in the seat.

They sat in silence for a couple minutes. Zazzalil wasn’t one for small talk, although she really wanted to talk to this girl. She just didn’t know what to say. If the girl wanted to start a conversation then Zazzalil would happily talk to her, but Zazzalil wouldn’t be the one to start it. 

As they passed more stops, the girl seemed to get increasingly anxious. She kept looking from her phone to outside, probably to figure out when she needed to get off. Her knee was bouncing up and down and if Zazzalil hadn’t thought this girl was so damn cute then she probably would have said something about it. She decided to try her best to ignore it and just look out the window.

“Shit,” Zazzalil heard the girl say. She looked over to see that the girl’s phone was turning off. Clearly this girl was having as rough of a morning as Zazzalil, so she decided to help her out.

“Do you need any help? You seem kinda lost.”

“Yeah, actually, thank you. Do you know how I get the bus driver to stop at my bus stop?” the girl asked. Zazzalil was right, she definitely had never been on a bus before. 

“Well, you just pull on this yellow cord,” she gestured towards the cord, “when your stop is the next stop.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

She still looked just as anxious as she had been before, and Zazzalil felt bad for her. After a minute of the girl continuing to bounce her leg, Zazzalil broke the silence.

“If you tell me which stop you’re getting off at I can pull the cord for you, if you want,” Zazzalil offered. 

The girl sighed in relief. “Would you? I need to get off at 23rd and Hawthorne. Thank you again.”

“No problem,” Zazzalil replied. She looked to see where they were and realized that was the next stop. She pulled on the yellow cord. “You’re gonna want to get off here.”

“Thank you. I’ve never used the bus before,” the girl said as she started to stand up.

“Really? I totally couldn’t tell,” Zazzalil teased. The girl blushed. “It’s really no problem. It can be kind of confusing if you’re not familiar with it.”

The bus came to a stop. “Thank you,” the girl said before she stood up and got off the bus. Zazzalil watched her go, wondering if she would see her again the next day. She hoped so.

* * *

 

“Keeri!”

Zazzalil closed the door to their apartment as she waited for a reply, but got none.

“Keeri!” she yelled, louder this time. Still nothing.

As she walked into the living room, she saw Keeri sitting cross-legged on the ground, her hands resting on her knees, with her eyes closed.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Keeri opened her eyes and glared at Zazzalil.

“I was _trying_ to meditate, before I was so rudely interrupted,” she replied. Every few weeks Keeri would pick up a new hobby, then get tired of it and start a new one. Before meditation it had been knitting, and before that had been painting.

“Well put your meditating on hold because I have _very_ exciting news,” Zazzalil said excitedly. Zazzalil had been thinking about the girl from the bus all day and couldn’t wait to tell Keeri about her.

“This better be good.”

“It’s _so_ good,” Zazzalil said. “So I almost missed the bus this morning, but I didn’t, and then this really cute girl – and I mean _really_ cute girl – sat next to me and I kinda flirted with her and I think she was into it? And now I can’t stop thinking about her.”

“That is exciting! What was her name? Did you get her number?” Keeri asked.

“Oh. I, uh, didn’t get her name. Or her number.” She sat down on the couch, frowning. Had she built up the entire thing in her head? The girl would have given her name if she was into her, right? But then again, Zazzalil hadn’t given her name either. Keeri got up from the floor and sat next to her, putting her arm around Zazzalil’s shoulder.

“Well I bet you’ll see her again tomorrow and you can ask her for her name then,” Keeri reassured her. Zazzalil still felt dumb. She spent practically her whole day thinking about this girl and hadn’t even gotten her name.

“I guess.”

The next day Zazzalil sat in her regular seat on the bus. Just like the day before, when the cute girl got on the bus there weren’t any empty seats except for the one beside Zazzalil. She debated not moving her bag so she wouldn’t have the chance to make a fool out of herself like she inevitably would if she talked to the girl. She moved her bag anyways and the girl sat down next to her.

“I never got your name yesterday.”

It was the girl that said it, not Zazzalil. She was frozen for a moment, having planned out this entire conversation in her head and none of the variations she came up with had involved this. She laughed awkwardly.

“I was actually going to say the same thing. I’m Zazzalil.”

“Zazzalil. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone named Zazzalil before. I’m Jemilla.” _Jemilla. A pretty name for a pretty girl_ , Zazzalil thought.

They sat in silence. Zazzalil wasn’t sure what to say, she hadn’t planned this far ahead. 

“Sorry about yesterday, by the way. I’ve just never taken the bus before and it was my first day at a new job so I was pretty stressed out. I promise today I can pull the cord on my own,” Jemilla said, smiling. Zazzalil laughed.

“Are you sure? It’s not as easy as it looks,” Zazzalil teased.

“I think I can manage,” Jemilla replied.

As they passed 22nd Street, Jemilla leaned over and pulled the cord. Their knees touched and Zazzalil could feel her heart rate speed up. The bus came to a stop and Jemilla stood up.

“See you tomorrow?” she asked before she stepped off the bus.

“Definitely,” Zazzalil replied with a smile.

And to think she almost didn’t move her bag.


End file.
